One of my favorite Advent figures is Simeon, another witness to Advent being the act of God to form the new Messiah-led community. Notice what Simeon says when God reveals to him that the little baby in the Temple is the Messiah \u2014 from Luke 2:<\/p>\n
\n25<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Now
\nthere was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and
\ndevout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy
\nSpirit was upon him. 26<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord\u2019s Christ. 27<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Moved
\nby the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought
\nin the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:<\/p>\n29<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss <\/a>your servant in peace.
30<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nMessiah means peace. Messiah means salvation (probably as with Zechariah: liberation of God\u2019s people from its enemies). Messiah means public redemption. Messiah means revelation of redemption for Gentiles and the glory of Israel. <\/p>\n
Advent is a supremely community act of God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite Advent figures is Simeon, another witness to Advent being the act of God to form the new Messiah-led community. Notice what Simeon says when God reveals to him that the little baby in the Temple is the Messiah \u2014 from Luke 2: 25\u00a0Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1749],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent"],"yoast_head":"\n
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